Vienna Talks Resume as U.S. Flaunts Sanctions
VIENNA (Dispatches) — High-ranking diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain resumed talks Saturday focused on bringing the United States back into their landmark nuclear deal with Iran.
The U.S. would not have a representative at the table when the diplomats met in Vienna because former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the country out of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018. Trump also restored and augmented sanctions to try to force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions.
U.S. President Joe Biden claims he wants to rejoin the deal, however, and a U.S. delegation is in Vienna to be kept abreast of the talks.
The Biden administration is considering a rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions, according to information from current and former U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter earlier this week. Iran says all sanctions imposed under Trump should be removed in one go.
Ahead of the main talks, Russia’s top representative Mikhail Ulyanov said JCPOA members met on the side with officials from the U.S. delegation but that the Iranian delegation was not ready to meet with U.S. diplomats.
"JCPOA participants held today informal consultations with the U.S. delegation at the Vienna talks on full restoration of the nuclear deal,” Ulyanov tweeted. "Without Iran who is still not ready to meet with U.S. diplomats.”
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, promised Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The reimposition of U.S. sanctions prompted Iran to scale down its compliance by increasing the purity of uranium it enriches and its stockpiles
The Vienna talks began in early April and have included several rounds of high-level discussions. Expert groups also have been working on proposals on how to resolve the issues around American sanctions, as well as the "possible sequencing” of the U.S. return.
An American journalist and writer said Saturday that the Biden administration intends to remove a fraction of sanctions against Iran but to keep the majority of them in place.
Max Parry said Washington’s insistence on classifying the sanctions to those related to the 2015 nuclear deal and others has made negotiations to revive the agreement lengthier and more complex.
"The Biden regime wants to have it both ways and is kicking the can down the road,” Parry told Press TV in an interview.
He said the window of opportunity in order to restore the nuclear deal is narrowing, especially as Iran is heading to a presidential election on June 18.
"All this is taking place despite the fact that it was Trump’s administration which withdrew from the JCPOA, and reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted by the nuclear deal,” Parry said.
Tehran, he said, has made it clear that it will not fully return to obligations under the nuclear pact unless all sanctions, either targeting its economic sector or individuals, are removed in one go, calling on U.S. officials to seize the chance and revive the JCPOA.
"So if Biden wants to score a foreign policy victory by ostensibly saving the agreement, he should stop appeasing the Iran hawks he has surrounded himself within his cabinet, and commit to the so-called new era of diplomacy he pledged as a candidate,” Parry said.
He said Biden’s procrastination attests to the fact that Washington is no longer able to accurately assess its own position as a playmaker.
He said U.S. leaders should realize that Washington no longer dominates the world as it once did and the international community is becoming increasingly multipolar.
The U.S. would not have a representative at the table when the diplomats met in Vienna because former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the country out of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018. Trump also restored and augmented sanctions to try to force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions.
U.S. President Joe Biden claims he wants to rejoin the deal, however, and a U.S. delegation is in Vienna to be kept abreast of the talks.
The Biden administration is considering a rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions, according to information from current and former U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter earlier this week. Iran says all sanctions imposed under Trump should be removed in one go.
Ahead of the main talks, Russia’s top representative Mikhail Ulyanov said JCPOA members met on the side with officials from the U.S. delegation but that the Iranian delegation was not ready to meet with U.S. diplomats.
"JCPOA participants held today informal consultations with the U.S. delegation at the Vienna talks on full restoration of the nuclear deal,” Ulyanov tweeted. "Without Iran who is still not ready to meet with U.S. diplomats.”
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, promised Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The reimposition of U.S. sanctions prompted Iran to scale down its compliance by increasing the purity of uranium it enriches and its stockpiles
The Vienna talks began in early April and have included several rounds of high-level discussions. Expert groups also have been working on proposals on how to resolve the issues around American sanctions, as well as the "possible sequencing” of the U.S. return.
An American journalist and writer said Saturday that the Biden administration intends to remove a fraction of sanctions against Iran but to keep the majority of them in place.
Max Parry said Washington’s insistence on classifying the sanctions to those related to the 2015 nuclear deal and others has made negotiations to revive the agreement lengthier and more complex.
"The Biden regime wants to have it both ways and is kicking the can down the road,” Parry told Press TV in an interview.
He said the window of opportunity in order to restore the nuclear deal is narrowing, especially as Iran is heading to a presidential election on June 18.
"All this is taking place despite the fact that it was Trump’s administration which withdrew from the JCPOA, and reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted by the nuclear deal,” Parry said.
Tehran, he said, has made it clear that it will not fully return to obligations under the nuclear pact unless all sanctions, either targeting its economic sector or individuals, are removed in one go, calling on U.S. officials to seize the chance and revive the JCPOA.
"So if Biden wants to score a foreign policy victory by ostensibly saving the agreement, he should stop appeasing the Iran hawks he has surrounded himself within his cabinet, and commit to the so-called new era of diplomacy he pledged as a candidate,” Parry said.
He said Biden’s procrastination attests to the fact that Washington is no longer able to accurately assess its own position as a playmaker.
He said U.S. leaders should realize that Washington no longer dominates the world as it once did and the international community is becoming increasingly multipolar.